This was only meant as a starting point. Not everybody involved with Act Up, for instance, was willing to get arrested or lie down in the middle of a busy NYC street or climb the scaffolding of the NIH in Maryland. But every little bit, every little voice that says this isn't right and things need to change helps. You got a better idea, then by all means suggest it. Trust me, there was plenty of screaming at Act Up meetings and plenty of disagreement over the "right" kind of protest.

What about the skaters who were screwed over the years because of judging conspiracies, deal making and the like? Don't their feelings count as well? What about audience members who gave up watching the sport because "it's all fixed anyway, so what's the point"--what about their feelings? This isn't about targeting one skater in an act of revenge. Frankly I didn't have a thought in my head about Adelina when I wrote the post. Not one.

There was a protest against anonymous judging at 2003 Worlds, organized by a group of fans going by the name SkateFAIR.

Much of the attention to this group was diluted by the announcement of the World Skating Federation -- a group of officials trying to start a figure skating-only federation to replace the ISU's governance of figure skating, which ultimately did not succeed.

So it's hard to say how much attention the protest would have attracted on its own.

There was a protest against anonymous judging at 2003 Worlds, organized by a group of fans going by the name SkateFAIR.

Much of the attention to this group was diluted by the announcement of the World Skating Federation -- a group of officials trying to start a figure skating-only federation to replace the ISU's governance of figure skating, which ultimately did not succeed.

So it's hard to say how much attention the protest would have attracted on its own.

Shae-Lynn Bourne & Victor Kraatz won the free dance this evening with a well skated routine to take home the gold medal in ice dancing. Irina Lobacheve and Ilia Averbukh dropped to second, while Albena Denkova & Maxim Staviyski held third place.

Of the nine randomly selected judges, five of the nine favored the Canadians, but a close inspection of all 14 marks indicates in all likelihood (at the 90% confidence level) Bourne & Kraatz won the gold medal on the roll of the dice, and had the full 14 judges been used to determine the results, they probably would have ended up with the silver medal.

In those days, not only were the judges anonymous, we didn't even know which of the 14 judges sitting at the table were actually judges and which were dummies filling a seat to fool people. (The judges themselves didn't know, either.) Sasha Cohen lost out on a Grand Prix win that year. too, by the bad luck of not having the right judges' scores count.

Readers who have not seen the letter sent to the ISU president by Katsuichiro Hisanaga, President of the Japan Skating Federation and former ISU vice president for figure skating, can find a copy of it at http://www.frogsonice.com/skateweb/a...t-letter.shtml It is a remarkable document that clearly lays out the many ISU skating regulations that are being ignored and perverted by ISU management.

The competition has yet to begin and already it is drowning in controversy. Over nearly a two week period beginning March 6, the referee of the men's event, Ron Pfenning, and ISU president Ottavio Cinquanta exchanged letters regarding the procedures in Communication 1197 that clearly contradict the established rules in the ISU regulations, and which were not passed as rules at the 2004 congress. This exchange culminated with ISU president removing Pfenning as the event referee. Subsequently Pfenning resigned his position on the ISU figures skating technical committee, blasting the ISU president for his failure to insure the ISU was operated in compliance with its own rules. Copies of the correspondence relating to these matters can be found on the Skatefair and other web sites, and make for interesting reading.

This was really quite a big deal that was utterly passed over. In implementing the new scoring system the ISU repeatedly violated its own constitution and by-laws which required approval of the general congress for rules changes. Instead, Mr. Cinquanta simply did as he pleased. In just the same way that last year he set aside the ISU rule that prevented him from serving longer as ISU president. Instead of calling for a new election he just declared himself indispensable and announced that he would grace us with his leadership for two more years.

Pfenning is just one of several ISU officials and ISU member federations who have protested the autocratic rule of the ISU president. He is merely the most recent to pay the price for standing up for integrity. He will probably not be the last.

Actually, Mr. Pfenning was the last. No one has raised a peep of protest since.

Well, almost the last:

The Skatefair protest is scheduled for Friday, outside the MCI center, at 5:30 PM EST. Sally Stapleford OBE, the former chairman of the ISU figure skating technical committee who was run out of that position by the ISU president at the 2004 [?] congress, will speak at the rally.

While all this was going on the skaters were stealing the show. In men's qualifying group A Evgeny Plushenko landed 4T/3T/3Lo and 3A/3T, Tim Goeble challenged with 4S/3T and 4T, and 17-year-old Stephane Lambiel landed 4T/3T and 3A cleanly for the first time. In the ladies' free skate Michelle Kwan gave one of her all-time great performances, but still had to sweat out a 7-triple tour de force by Elena Sokolova.

And Shen and Zhao delivered one of the the finest pairs performances in the history of the sport, to thunderous applause.

Pfenning is just one of several ISU officials and ISU member federations who have protested the autocratic rule of the ISU president. He is merely the most recent to pay the price for standing up for integrity. He will probably not be the last.

The integrity of this Phenning?

6/13/13 Question Rec’d - Is there a reason why we shouldn't consider active ISU officials for President of USFS?

It costs at least $100,000.00 to become an ISU Interntional or World Judge or Referee; mostly funded by U.S. Figure Skating. Our judges, working at the international level should be out on the ISU circuit supporting Team USA athletes. It makes no sense to pull them off the playing field and vote them in as USFS President We should put an experienced administrator in the top job and keep our valuable ISU officials judging and/or refereeing. Conflict of interest keeps them from doing both at the same time.http://www.ronforus.com/q---a-con-t..html

​​

6/7/13 - ? received - Has U.S. Figure Skating is presently perceived as an important player in formulating and driving decisions made within the ISU? If not, what needs to be done to improve the USFS position in the future?

Answer - The short answer is no federation has great influence. Our sport is headed by a speed skater and none of the figure skating members of the ISU Council choose to challenge his leadership. I would like to think our council member is working behind the scenes for our interests and that of the sport.We are in a good position on the technical committees; Bob Horen on Ice Dance, Karen Wolanchuk on Synchronized Skating and the appointed Coach David Kirby on the FSTC.
To improve the USFS positon in the future our federation needs to nominate strong qualified candidates for each of the technical committees and the ISU Council. We need to work closely with other Federations on the election of an ISU President from the figure skating side. Historically candidates for President have come from a Vice President or chair of a technical committee. In the upcoming ISU election is appears individuals outside of these positions may also be in the mix.

He sounds to me that he is more interested in strengthening USFS position within ISU, and make sure that american judges support their own skaters.
Basically what other officials from different Fed's do.

There was a protest against anonymous judging at 2003 Worlds, organized by a group of fans going by the name SkateFAIR.

Much of the attention to this group was diluted by the announcement of the World Skating Federation -- a group of officials trying to start a figure skating-only federation to replace the ISU's governance of figure skating, which ultimately did not succeed.

So it's hard to say how much attention the protest would have attracted on its own.

Thank you for posting this. This all happened around the time I stopped paying for cable television, so for a few years there I became a proverbial "casual fan" of the sport until the internet caught up and began providing links to live feeds of competitions.

Well I suppose the most obvious step is to research what SkateFair did--and did not do--and see what can be learned from it.

The case of Ron Pfenning points out the greatest single problem associated with judging in the sport: nationalism. Unfortunately it would take a complete overhaul of the sport and how it is structured as a competitive event to address that problem, which we know ain't gonna happen.

Sometimes I wonder if I wasn't better off as a casual fan. And it was nice to save all that cable moolah every month. Still is.